Colts head coach Shane Steichen confirmed that Philip Rivers, who made his first NFL start Sunday in Seattle in nearly five years, will start Monday’s high-profile home game against the San Francisco 49ers.
Both Sunday postgame and Monday afternoon speaking with reporters, Steichen spoke glowingly of how Rivers managed the team’s gameplan and checked the offense in and out of calls at the line of scrimmage. The Colts took an early 13-3 lead, led for the majority of the game and pushed back ahead, 16-15, off a 60-yard field goal from new kicker Blake Grupe with just under a minute to go, only for the defense to give up 25 yards on two passes in 20 seconds on the game clock to a Seattle offense that had no timeouts left.
Rivers finished 18-for-27 for 120 yards passing and a first-half touchdown strike to Josh Downs. His lone interception came on the Colts’ final play on offense with 11 seconds left, needing to pick up 30 yards or so quickly. As expected, he wasn’t mobile – famously slipping and falling down on his own accord midway through the game – but Rivers helped the Colts dink-and-dunk down the field with plenty of success early in the game.
“I think for Philip being off that long, there was some unknown, but for him to do what he did to put us in position to win in a hostile environment after that long of a layoff is pretty impressive,” Steichen said Monday. “He got us into the right plays, managed the game, and I thought he was phenomenal in that regard.
“The way he was on the sidelines with his leadership, all those things he brings to our team will be beneficial for all of us.”
Steichen also confirmed Monday that Anthony Richardson, who was the team’s backup quarterback earlier this year until fracturing his orbital bone in a freak pregame accident in Week 6, would be ramping up his physical activity this week, but Steichen would go as far as to say his 21-day practice window would be opened from IR.
The Colts also have rookie sixth-round pick Riley Leonard at their disposal, the quarterback who filled in for then-starter Daniel Jones a week ago after Jones tore his right Achilles tendon in the first quarter of the Dec. 7 road game in Jacksonville. But Steichen was clear Monday that he and the Colts believe Rivers’ game management capabilities, leadership, overall knowledge of the offense and experience give the Colts the best chance to succeed as they enter a make-or-break three-game stretch as they sit outside the AFC playoff picture.
Steichen also said Rivers emerged from the game with nothing more than the typical bumps and bruises you’d expect any quarterback to weather in an NFL game, and he’ll be ready mentally and physically for a new game plan for the 49ers come Monday.
“We wanted to see how Philip did Sunday, and I thought he did some really good things,” Steichen said. “He’s excited for this challenge. Obviously, he’s got to take it one week at a time, and we’ll go from there.”
Rivers came away from Sunday’s loss not only emotional at the opportunity to be back on an NFL field again, his last appearance coming in the Colts’ early-January 2021 wild card playoff loss to the Buffalo Bills, 27-24, but visibly frustrated that the offense slowed to nearly a halt in the second half. Rivers finished the first half 10-for-16 for 82 yards and his lone touchdown, and running backs Jonathan Taylor and Ameer Abdullah combined for 72 rushing yards on 19 carries.
The offense produced just 63 yards in the second half, punting on each of the team’s first three drives in the third and fourth quarters before Grupe’s go-ahead field goal in the final minute of the game.
Steichen emphasized several times Monday that the ground-and-pound-led offensive attack was exactly how he and offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter had drawn things up heading to Seattle. The Colts had the ball for 19:02 of a possible 30 minutes in the first half, but allowed the Seahawks to nearly flip that the other direction in the second half.
The Colts defense didn’t give up a touchdown to one of the top offenses in the league in the loudest road environment in the NFL, but it wasn’t enough.
“It’s going to continue to get better. This is obviously the first one – we’re talking about three days of practice,” Rivers said postgame Sunday. “Speaking offensively, if I can stay healthy, it’s gonna get better as we go, but the catch in that is we’ve gotta win.
“It doesn’t really matter if it’s getting better as we go, because we’ve gotta win, or it’s going to be over in three weeks. That’s the catch. I do know we’re going to scratch and fight and claw. I do know that. Not because I’m here, but I do know that any team I’ve ever been a part of…will fight like crazy until they tell us the season’s over. So you can guarantee that for the next three weeks.”
Joel A. Erickson and Nathan Brown cover the Colts all season. Get more coverage on IndyStarTV and with the Colts Insider newsletter.